The Roman Catholic Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA, said it “appreciates” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s announcement of a new Pentagon office dedicated to supporting religious members of the military.
Hegseth introduced the Office of Religious Affairs at the Department of Defense (DOD) in his Sept. 30 State of the Force Address at Marine Corps Base Quantico, Virginia, which was attended by 600 officers and service members.
In his speech, Hegseth said the office will report directly to him and to the secretaries who serve after him. He said there will be “no staff filters” and “no bureaucratic dilution” but rather a “direct line to the secretary” for the chaplains.
“This wonʼt be a paper-pushing shop,” he said. “It will have real teeth. It will protect budgets, demand infrastructure, and strengthen religious support. The experts, our chaplains, will finally have an advocate at the highest levels. Policy and resources will serve the mission, not smother the mission.”
In a statement to EWTN News, the Catholic military archdiocese said it hopes the new office “will enhance and strengthen the support offered to the men, women and their families who serve in the military, and to the chaplain corps who strive to accompany our soldiers, sailors, and airmen across all service branches.”
“Placing spiritual readiness alongside other departmental priorities, and shortening the timeline between identified field needs and senior decisions can have the practical effect of resolving legacy constraints that historically limited chaplaincy support,” the statement said. “This Archdiocese appreciates the initiative and welcomes its implementation.”
Structural change
Hegseth explained the new structure is meant to ensure chaplains do not need to go through secular bureaucracy.
The secretary said, under the old system, “we let people with no expertise in faith or religion dictate the spiritual life of our warriors,” and the chaplains “were buried echelons deep, waiting for permission.”
“Decisions about faith and religion were made by secular careerists in cubicles and lawyers running around with red tape,” he said.
The secretary blamed the previous structure for budget cuts, failures to adequately meet needs for resourcing and manpower, and a lack of support for chapels on bases. He said faith had been treated as “an afterthought” even though only 5% of the military is nonreligious.
“Our department therefore has a sacred duty — first-class religious support wherever we send our warriors,” Hegseth said. “… For far too long, you know, we didnʼt prioritize that duty at all.”
Archbishop Timothy Broglio of the Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA, has supported some of Hegseth’s other reforms of the chaplaincy as well.
Broglio celebrated Hegseth’s removal of the official spiritual fitness guide, which the secretary said was “pushing secular humanism” and treating chaplains like “emotional support officers” rather than as chaplains.
The archbishop said the change allowed chaplains to focus on spiritual ministry “above and beyond everything else that they might ask the chaplains to do.”
Broglio also spoke positively of Hegseth’s decision to change the chaplain insignia on uniforms to reflect the faith role instead of the military rank.
“If the decision to eliminate the rank insignia for chaplains so as to favor the insignia indicating religious affiliation contributes to making chaplains more approachable, the archdiocese favors it,” the archbishop said in March.
Alternatively, the archdiocese faced problems with the Army in 2025 amid canceled religious contracts, which the DOD ultimately worked to restore.
Apart from the chaplaincy, Broglio has criticized some military decisions from President Donald Trump’s administration. In April, he echoed the concerns of Pope Leo XIV, saying it was “hard” to see how the Iran war could be justified under Catholic just war doctrine.
The archbishop was also critical of earlier threats to annex Greenland, along with attacks on alleged drug boats off the coast of Venezuela that killed more than 100 people.
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